Garcelle Beauvais credits co-star Sutton Stracke for 'twisting my arm' and convincing her to stick around for season 12 of 'RHOBH.'
Garcelle Beauvais is holding onto her diamond for at least one more season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. After previously telling ET she was "on the fence" about returning to the Bravo hit, Garcelle was back in action on Wednesday night, filming with her co-stars for season 12 at Sutton Stracke's West Hollywood boutique, The Sutton Concept.
"I really thought about it," she now admits to ET of quitting the show. "Sutton really twisted my arm. I like doing it, it's just sometimes it's really tough. And so, I wanted to sort of weigh in with my family, I wanted to see where I was, and so we'll go, we'll keep going."
Season 12 will be Garcelle's third as a Housewife. She wrapped up the season 11 reunion by admitting she finally feels welcomed as a part of this group, something she had expressed not feeling earlier in the season. She says she's still in that head space, but qualifies the statement by adding, "But it's early."
"It's a dance for me," she notes. "I'm not gonna come at you unless you come at me, so if you do, get ready, because I'm not playing anymore. No more Ms. Nice Guy!
Part of Garcelle's outsider-ness within the RHOBH group is the fact that she is the only Black woman on the cast. For nearly two years now, fans have been campaigning for the show to add another Black woman to the line-up so that Garcelle could have a friend on the show who understands her on a deeper level. When pressed on whether her friend Sheree Zampino, ex-wife of Will Smith, has been recruited yet, Garcelle lets out a knowing sigh/grunt. "I can't say!" she exclaims. "When you turn off the camera, I'll tell ya!"
While fans will have to wait until 2022 to find out if Sheree (who's said she'd like to join the show) makes it on air, they can definitely expect to see Sanela Diana Jenkins pop up. While Bravo hasn't confirmed that the entrepreneur is a new cast member, she has been photographed with the cast at a number of filmed events so far, and was in attendance at Sutton's party on Wednesday.
Not present on Wednesday, though, was Erika Jayne, who is back for season 12 after a tense season 11 that ended with a four-part reunion that felt more like a deposition than a TV special. Erika is caught in a legal web, dealing with a number of lawsuits related to her estranged husband, Tom Girardi's, alleged bad business dealings. The stress of her legal woes led Erika to lash out repeatedly at her castmates who dared to ask question about her situation, especially Sutton. At the reunion, Garcelle admitted to wishing she had held the "Pretty Mess" singer more accountable for her actions throughout the season -- and she says she's putting that into practice while filming season 12.
"I recently asked her a tough question and she answered it, which I was surprised," Garcelle teases. "But I don't want to focus on that. I feel like we did that last season, let's see where we land with that. 'Cause nothing's really changed. ... So, I'm getting off that train."
The focus of season 12 so far has seemingly been the home invasion that turned Dorit Kemsley's life upside down. The Beverly Beach designer is back filming, too, just weeks after the terrifying ordeal.
"Everybody's rallying around her and seeing how she does," Garcelle says of the cast. "I don't know if I would've been here myself, like, I wouldn't have thrown myself in that quickly, but we're all different."
Season 12 is also likely to track the writing and release of Garcelle's memoir, Love Me As I Am, now available for preorder -- it hits bookstore shelves in April. The book's original title proved too racy for retailers.
"I couldn't sell it! [My publishers] were like, 'Amazon will not put it on,' with Finding My G Spot," Garcelle cracks, going on to open up about the behind-the-scenes process of processing her life in the form of a book.
"It was really hard," she shares. "There were certain things that I didn't want to bring up and I thought, there were things that I thought were OK to bring up, but then in writing brought up different feelings for me, but you know me: I was honest, some people have a hard time. Some things will be shocking. Some things will be juicy, and we're just gonna leave it there."
For Housewives fans, Garcelle promises she gets into "clearing up some stuff" about her time on the show in the book. "It's my truth, it's my journey," she says.
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